Java 2 Micro Edition: Professional Developer's Guide [With CDROM]

by Eric Giguere and Eric Gigu?re

An in-depth tutorial on how to use Java 2 Micro Edition to program handheld devices Although Java is one of the most popular programming languages, it is too powerful to be used on wireless, handheld devices like the Palm Connected Organizer. A miniature version of Java, called Java 2 Micro Edition, has now been created by Sun Microsystems to run specifically on these devices. Written by software developer Eric Giguere, this book provides an authoritative...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471390658
• ISBN13: 9780471390657
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Awesome book for professionals!

Although this book was published about a year ago, it still has an incredible value to everyone seriously interested in developing applications in J2ME. It is one of those few books that is capable of covering major topics without being too broad and digging deep into details without being boring. Eric explains how to think in Java in J2ME. The thing is that normal Java programming paradigms often will not apply to J2ME, since we have to work in a very constrained environment. The author from the beginning gives you an overview of what can be done and what should not be done with J2ME. Those first chapters are worth the price of the book alone. Subsequent chapters cover the essentials of J2ME for different hardware platforms including Palm OS. All in all, I think this book is a must for everyone who intends to write professional software for mobile devices.

Excellent Presentation of the J2ME Space

This book is an excellent presentation of the current world of Java in embedded devices with enough detail to get someone started but also not too much detail to get a reader confused. It provides a great mixture of background and hands-on information. In a very structured way, the author shows the problem space of resource restricted operating environments and provides some guidance on when employing Java in a device makes sense and how to tune and address performance issues. After an overview of the J2ME specifications, three actual implementations of the CLDC/MIDP are discussed in detail (Sun's KVM for Palm, Motorola's J2ME SDK and RIM's Blackberry JDE). All of those implementations are included on the CD, which allows for some really good hands-on training. As an additional goodie the book also discusses Waba.Generally, the tone of writing is very friendly making this book a very pleasant reading experience. The bottom line is, that this is an excellent introductory book to J2ME for people who know some Java already!I definitely cannot agree with some other reviewer's perspective in regards to the author just having collected the Tech Tips he wrote into a book. However, this book together with the Tech Tips make a great combination to jump start J2ME development.

Great introductory book...

This book is an excellent presentation of the current world of Java in embedded devices with enough detail to get someone started but also not too much of detail to get people confused. It provides a good overview of the problem space of resource restricted operating environments and performance tuning. In a very structured way, the book describes the J2ME specifications and discusses CLDC implementations from Sun (KVM for Palm), Motorola and RIM. As a little goodie the author also describes Waba. Generally, the tone of the book is very light making it a very pleasant reading experience.As a bottom line, this book is extremely recommendable for everybody with Java experience who is new to the embedded Java space!

Great Introduction to J2ME and small-device App dev

Working on a tight time frame for a final year engineering project, I needed to find a book that gave me an overview of what J2ME is, how it differs from J2SE, and how to develop applications.This book did a great job in satisfying all the above. The book was an easy read and written well so that it was quick to read the entire book and understand the entire J2ME concept and what it means to a seasoned Java developer.Eric does a great job in helping new J2ME developers get familiar with the current J2ME SDKs out there on the market, however most of the information is based on an older version of the SDK. Perhaps in his next edition, he can talk about the Zucotto Wireless Whiteboard J2ME SDK. They also offer Java Bluetooth APIs.This is a must have book if you want to get up to speed quickly on the technology. I found that finding information on the web regarding J2ME was cumbersome and convoluted. The Sun website was confusing and does not contain the integration of resources necessary to fully explain J2ME clearly.One suggestion is that the next version include more examples of MIDP or CLDC applications, especially developing GUIs and methods to avoid the absence of Floating-point data types and functions. Either the book or the companion website should list more J2ME resources that can be found on the web. I personally find it restricting to program in J2ME without the vast selection of classes in J2SE. Would be nice to find J2ME compliant implementations of certain key J2SE classes.

The first J2ME book hits the shelves...

This is the first book that wrestles with J2ME. Actually, the book is pretty good and readable and my opinion id that it will be interesting read for every Java programmer. The book assumes a solid knowledge of J2SE and doesn't assume any knowledge about embedded programming. PART ONE - Java and Small Devices explains what the "small" device means today and why the standard Java became fat and slow and had to diverge to three APIs (J2ME, J2SE, J2EE) in order to try to satisfy all developers' needs. PART TWO - J2ME Specifications explains fundamentals: profiles and configurations and briefly depicts an architecture of J2ME applications. Here we learn how Java team "implemented" the "write once, run anywhere" paradigm in small devices. Actually, the solution is a compromise of having a portable part of the application (which deals with configuration API) and "maybe portable" (probably not) part (which deals with profile API). Of course, there is still non-portable part which deals with JNI (native) api. This part was the most interesting theory part for me. PART THREE - Implementations explains several implementations of J2ME. The most notable contribution is in Palm area (the author also made a book about Palm programming recently). Several devices are introduced with their profiles and limitations. I have a solid background in J2SE and wanted a quick, not very formal introduction in J2ME. This book delivered for me. I also learned an important distinction and similarities among J2ME (future development platform), JavaCard (not related to J2ME, very small API, constraints are big...), EmbeddedJava (not related to J2ME, "black box" application philosophy) and PersonalJava (will be integrated into a J2ME). The CD which goes with the book has all development tools mentioned in the book altogehter with a source code to the main application from the book (Tic-Tac-Toe implementation for J2ME). The main drawback is that J2ME is not finished yet and author tried to compensate this with lots of resources (URLs) where final stuff should be in a couple of months. These resources are very valuable even now. Recommended.